Award-winning trio Stillhouse Junkies celebrated the release of their album, Small Towns on Sept 9, on Dark Shadow Recording. The 2021 IBMA Momentum Band of the Year and two-time Telluride Bluegrass band contest finalists are comprised of Alissa Wolf, Cody Tinnin, and Fred Kosak. Produced by label head Stephen Mougin, the album showcases their incredible talents and sound that effortlessly blends their electric influences — from Folk to Bluegrass. We had the chance to interview them & hope you love what they had to say!
What was the writing and recording process like for Small Towns?
It was an intense but very satisfying process for us. The writing was actually spread out over a period of several years; we had a backlog of music we were ready to record when we initially signed with Dark Shadow, including some older songs we had re-worked and newer material written with the theme of the album in mind. Once we settled on a date for tracking, we spent about a month doing pre-production Zoom calls with producer and label owner Stephen Mougin in which we really dialed in arrangements, tempos, and vocals. Working closely with a metronome was humbling but we grew a huge amount as a band in a short time. When we went into the studio in Nashville in the first week of February we definitely felt ready to record. End to end, tracking took us about a week and we were thrilled with the sounds and performances we got.
What do you hope listeners take away from Small Towns?
We hope that listeners are able to find an emotional connection to the themes on the album and also gain an impression of the landscapes we have traveled through as a band over the years. This collection of songs is definitely autobiographical in a lot of ways and reflects our own experiences growing up, living, and playing music in small towns. More than anything, we hope that the music transports listeners to a different place – somewhere they can re-visit and spend time whenever they wish.
If you had to describe your sound to someone who hasn’t heard your music before, what
would you say?
We generally refer to our sound as “progressive original roots”. We draw from so many different musical sources that it’s hard to accept a single moniker like “bluegrass”. We’ve been inspired by funk, blues, jazz, Americana, and a whole mess of other things too, and we hope that our musical reflects that diversity.
What is your favorite city you’ve toured to so far and why?
It’s hard to pick one spot, but we’ve had a blast in Raleigh, NC at the two IBMA World of Bluegrass conferences we’ve attended. Downtown Raleigh is a perfect venue for the festival and we’ve found some world-class cafes and restaurants within a few minutes of the conference center.
Any dream venues to play?
The crown jewel of Colorado’s live music scene is the legendary Red Rocks amphitheatre, and it’s hard to imagine another spot we’d rather get the chance to play. Although the Ryman Auditorium would be a bucket list spot, too!
Who are your musical idols and why?
We all have our own individual musical heroes. Alissa has been continually inspired by fiddlers like Michael Cleveland, Darol Anger, Mark O’Connor, and Ross Holmes; Cody cites Edgar Meyer and Christian McBride as role models on the upright bass; Fred looks to Tony Rice, John Scofield, and Scott Nygaard for guitar ideas. As a band, we are huge fans of Steep Canyon Rangers, Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway, and Billy Strings. And Fred is working on convincing Cody and Alissa to listen to Phish!
What’s a song by another artist that you wished you had written?
We’d have to go with one of most-played covers, “Brown-Eyed Women” by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia. The song just lives in its own imaginary space and embodies the kind of impressionistic lyric writing we all admire.
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